Barbet Schroeder On His Trilogy Of Evil & Being “Profoundly Scared” In Trump Era – Cannes Studio

Oscar-nominated Reversal Of Fortune director Barbet Schroeder has sort of completed his “Trilogy of Evil” documentary series with The Venerable W. The Official Selection title here in Cannes is a look at Burma’s Venerable Wirathu, a highly respected and influential Buddhist monk whose Islamophobia and hate speech have led to violence and destruction. But Schroeder, whose narrative films include Single White Female, Kiss Of Death, Murder By Numbers and Barfly, says he’s keeping an eye on Donald Trump.

The helmer of 1974 documentary General Idi Amin Dada and 2007’s Terror’s Advocate tells me in the video above that should he add to the trilogy, it would be with “something else that is going to be totally extraordinary, unbelievable, that will present me another facet of evil that I didn’t expect and that will surprise me.”

But he’s been somewhat unsurprised at what’s happening in America. “From the beginning of the campaign, as soon as this Donald appeared, I was smelling something bad… I try to keep up with what is happening because I’m profoundly scared. Not for me, not for America — for the whole world. I am concerned that the world as we knew it will never be the same again and that things that are broken cannot always be repaired.”

The Cannes veteran lightened up a bit during our chat — check him out above demonstrating how the fest’s red carpet has changed.